Lead Backend Engineer – Java / Distributed Systems
REMOTE- MUST work EST hours
W2 ONLY – we are not able to sponsor now or in the future

Overview

Seeking a Lead Backend Engineer to oversee the maintenance, reliability, and scalability of high-volume backend systems supporting millions of users. This role combines hands-on Java engineering with technical leadership, system architecture, and coordination across engineering teams.
The ideal candidate has extensive experience maintaining and scaling large-scale production systems and can independently drive technical decisions while ensuring system stability and performance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the maintenance and optimization of high-volume Java backend services supporting millions of users.
• Drive architecture discussions, system design, technical scoping, and execution roadmaps.
• Troubleshoot production incidents, resolve performance issues, and improve system reliability.
• Maintain and scale distributed systems to ensure high availability and performance.
• Coordinate engineering priorities, track progress, resolve blockers, and collaborate with internal engineering teams.
• Reduce technical debt, improve monitoring and alerting, and streamline operational processes.
• Manage dependency updates, security patches, and infrastructure upgrades.
• Develop technical documentation, runbooks, and operational best practices.

Required Qualifications

• Strong hands-on Java backend engineering experience.
• Proven experience maintaining and scaling high-volume distributed production systems serving millions of users.
• Experience leading technical architecture discussions, system design, and engineering execution.
• Strong background in production troubleshooting, incident response, and system reliability.
• Experience improving scalability, performance, and reducing technical debt.
• Strong communication, prioritization, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience with Kubernetes, GCP, PagerDuty, Grafana, or Prometheus is beneficial but not required.

About SSI People: With over 26 years of industry experience, SSi People has built its reputation and expertise on putting people first. Everything we do works toward delivering exceptional experience for our consultants, our clients, and our internal team. Through a genuine commitment to people in everything we do. We have developed refined processes and a stellar internal team to deliver talent quickly. More importantly, we focus on building long-term relationships, not transactions. Putting people first is just what we do well.

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